Washington County Conservation looks to get involved in Kalona

KALONA - Washington County Conservation will finally get a footprint in Kalona through involvement in Southtown, the town's latest development.

The city of Kalona recently annexed 600 acres of property that includes land formerly belonging to Shiloh, a branch of The Living Word Fellowship church.

Shiloh has since announced it has left The Living Word Fellowship and is no longer in need of the land.

The area has been renamed Southtown with the developing neighborhood to be named North Ridge. Developer C.J. Moyna & Sons is currently working on developing 64 lots.

Conservation Executive Director Zach Rozmus said a committee has been formed that includes members of the conservation board, representation from the city of Kalona, C.J. Moyna & Sons and the YMCA of Washington County.

Many ideas are still in the works for the space,but Rozmus said the developer is to the point where it would like to see the ideas come to fruition.

'I think this committee is what decides what the relationship between the city of Kalona and us is going to be,” he said.

Currently, there is a trail system already in Southtown that Conservation could potentially maintain. Rozmus said concerns arose about a lack of potential manpower to ensure the department could take care of all the land.

However, Rozmus said he felt that was more of a long-term concern and felt there were short-term projects the department could get involved with quickly. One of those is the 117 acres of wetlands on site.

Rozmus said they would require minimal maintenance and could potentially be converted into a future trail system. No decision has been made yet as discussions continue.